Elenos Transmitters covers major areas in the Netherlands
The Dutch broadcast network operator Broadcast Partners provides FM and DAB+ radio distribution and additional services for a large number of licensees.
Broadcast Partners is the largest service provider in both the Netherlands and Belgium and serves dozens of public and commercial radio stations. For FM distribution, Broadcast Partners uses combinations of Elenos ETG Indium FM transmitters because they have proven to be reliable.
The systems are compact and they have a very high level of energy efficiency. The latter has been an important topic for years, not only in terms of sustainability but also to keep control on operational costs.
Network Operators like Broadcast Partners currently have to deal with dynamic and volatile energy markets. “A transmitter product with high efficiency helps us to lower the operational costs of our FM networks,” said Werner de Schepper, CTO of Broadcast Partners.
The landscape in the Netherlands is interesting. The country has a flat landscape without significant differences in height. In this situation it is possible to serve a large part of the country with a single transmitter station, on the condition that a frequency diagram allows it, that sufficient transmitter power is available and the antenna system is installed height enough.
A good example of this, is a frequency that is broadcasted from the Gerbrandytoren (radio broadcast tower) in the centre of the Netherlands. The signal is transmitted on a 12-layer antenna system at a height of approximately 330 meters. It is interesting to note that using this multi-pattern antenna system, the signals from multiple radio stations are broadcast on it, with a cumulative ERP power of over 440 kW.
This way it is possible for just one redundant transmitter (see picture) to serve around 70% of the area of the country, including cities like Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Utrecht and The Hague and a ditto percentage of the country’s population. That comes with a lot of responsibility.
“We provide reliable radio distribution around the clock for a lot of radio stations, and therefore we have to deploy high-quality products that we can rely on,” Werner explains. “We use Elenos transmitters to provide that.”
